While I Waited

The Hunt

I usually left Leever hunting to Impa.  Not because I wasn't capable, of course, but it was... tedious.

While the sun still staged itself for its grand entrance, I dismissed my spell and rode out to the far end of the canyon, where the Swallowing Sands began.  There was a hut at the last edge of the rock, and at my approach, a woman came out to greet me.  Her broad nose showed her Gerudo heritage, even if her hair was more white than red. "Amas!  I am called Zoral. What brings you to this side of the canyon?"

"Sheik," I said, and avoided the question by asking my own.  "Do you stable horses?"

The woman looked us over.  "Normally, no.  But it would be a shame to lose such a beast to the Swallowing Sands."

I slipped from the saddle and readied my purse.  "I'll leave you a violet, and bring you a red for every day I'm gone."

She shook her head.  "It may be a fair price, but what use do I have for rupees out here?  The truth is, that horse will need more water than I can siphon from the rocks.  I cannot keep him."

I bit my lip.  Well, I already needed to hunt anyway... "Keep him today, and I will return with enough water for the horse for a fortnight."

Zoral laughed, making a point of looking down at me.  "How will you get it, let alone carry it?"

I shoved my purse in her hands.  "I have a plan," I said, and set off at a nice jog along the sands.

___

After a mile, the sands changed color slightly - the Gerudo had two names for the shades, but for me it was the difference between white and white thinking about orange.  Still, it was enough I cut off my jog and began a sliding shuffle.  

Well that I did.  In the distance, a Tichu hopped across some unseen border.  The rodent did alright for a few seconds, sniffing at the ground while its elephantine ears twisted in every direction.  Every direction but down.  The sand rippled, and the Tichu got one hop in before something green and thorny popped out and devoured it.

Carnivorous plants.  As if the desert weren't dangerous enough.

Careful to keep my sliding shuffle, I closed on the Tichu's grave.  Leevers had no size limitations for their prey.  The only thing that escaped the subterranean terrors were the serpentine staldra with their poisonous flesh.  The Leevers avoided anything that slithered.

I slithered on up to where I'd seen the Leever and began circling as I readied my weapons.  I took my habra, a specialized iron hook with a vicious tip, in my right hand, while slipping out needles in my left.  If I were experienced, I'd somehow manage to ready my canteen, too, to catch that first gush of sweetwater from the Leever, but even as I considered it, a couple of my needles slipped from my grip and bounced down on the white-ish sand.

The grains gave an infinitesimal shake.

"Tozpit," I muttered, tightening my grip on the rest and beginning to slide-shuffle away.

I felt the sand churn beneath me, and I did my best to dive away.  But the sand fell out under my feet, and I landed hard on my solar plexus and something clamped down on my heels.

I writhed, curses forgotten as I tried to sink my hook into the gill-like slits in the Leever's flesh.  I felt contractions around my ankle, something like an esophagus trying to pull me in.  I flailed with the hook, but it bounced uselessly against the Leever's deep green outer shell.  Not there, I heard Impa chiding me, That shell can withstand the pressure of a hundred feet of sand.  Your only chance is the slits.

The Leever had me up to the knees before I managed to get a sink.  When the iron met soft flesh, a mist sprayed, and the creature clamped down even harder and thrashed, working me like a rag doll.  I ignored the pain in my back, my focus entirely spent on keeping the hook in place.  If I could hold it there long enough, the sweetwater would drain out and the Leever would go lifeless, or at least as docile as any normal plant.

Just as the thrashing began to calm, I felt more churning in the sand.  "Tozspit, tozpit..." I muttered, yanking with all my might on the hook.  With a crack like lightning, the Leever's outer shell snapped.  My back slammed once again in the sand and my arms flopped over my head, the habra flying out of my grip.  Sweetwater fountained, and the Leever went still.

But my legs were still locked tight in its jaws, and the sand was still churning.  I twisted to unsheathe one of my back knives.  I sawed furiously in the small slit between my legs.  I had to free them before the Leevers came.

I cut a quick glance over my shoulder.  Two dark green heads appearred, spinning ominously as they closed on my position.  When I glanced back front, I almost dropped the knife.  Three more heads drilled closer.

Frantic, I devoted my whole strength to the knife, but inside I knew this wouldn't work - even if I got free, how could I possibly escape five more of the monsters?  

"Sheik!" cried a voice, "What plan is this?"

I glanced up and around the closing Leevers to see Zoral, safe on the true-white sand, with my horse pulling a couple sandsleds behind him.  

She must've thought I would need help lifting the water, I realized. Now she's come to watch me die.

What plan is this?

The realization made my cheeks heat in embarrassment, but it would be more embarrassing to die.

Releasing the knife, I closed my eyes and dug deep within myself, to the darkness where I couldn't feel the pressure on my legs, or the churning in the sand beneath me, or even the pounding of my pulse.  Here, in the calm, was the power I found so easily last night.  I grasped the golden glow, bent it to my will, and dragged it back to reality with me.

The sapphire shields of Nayru's Love slammed into place just in time - five rapid thuds told me it held up against the Leevers' pounces.  Breath shaky, I willed the spell to change shape, folding the diamond down onto each head, pinning them against the sand.

Dark spots began to swim in my vision.  I had tried this technique only once before, to roll a boulder.  I'd never intended it to push living, fighting things, let alone five of them.  The Leevers lurched against the blue walls, and each lurch brought a wave of dizziness.  I needed to hold them, saw my legs free, then walk over and gut each one, but my fingers couldn't seem to cooperate.  There was a moment of relief, then something slammed against my spell, and the blue walls lurched closer.

I laid back and closed my eyes.  I'm not strong enough.

Then the pressure began to ebb.  I didn't dare open my eyes, didn't dare loosen my hold on the spell:  this could only mean another slam was coming, a slam that could very well be my downfall.  I summoned my strength against it.

But it never came.  

My strength ebbed and my spell slipped away, and I heard something slither towards me.  After all this, would a staldra take me.  But I couldn't so much as turn my head away.

"By the seven sages..." came a voice, and then my mind slipped into the black.